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Caloroga Shark Media, Hello, Johnny Mack with your Daily Comedy News man. You can see just how much damage performing at the Riog Comedy Festival did to people’s careers. Like take, for example, Sebastian Maniscalco. He was interviewed by Forbes down in Atlantic City at the Ocean Casino Resort. Forbes I met out with Sebastian at the Italian restaurant at the Ocean Casino Resort with the classic name Linguini by the Sea.
Forbes tells us they shared some Manhattans, some homemade meatballs, eggplant rolatini, and chicken Marsella. And in this purbing interview, they asked, hey, when you play the riod come. No, they didn’t ask him that at all. They said, hey, was wine a regular part of dinner growing up in an Italian family? Because this is the hacky Sebastian Maniscalgo interview, you do, Oh yeah, you’re Italian?
Right, yeah, Okay, let me ask you about food. Sebastian said, it’s not like I was knocking back your glass of wine when his ten years old, but it was here’s the knife, here’s the glass. I have a little sip, so it wasn’t taboo growing up. I remember my grandfather having a large jug of wine, not Opu’s Winter or anything like that. I think it was Ernest and Julio Gallo.
But yeah, food and wine were pretty much a staple growing up these days. Sebastian says, I really enjoy red wine. My wife and I got married in Napa. My father in law introduced me to the world of wine. When I met my wife fifteen years ago.
I met. Up to that point, I was drinking wine, but I didn’t really know anything. I’m not a wine connoisseur where I could taste anything and say, oh, that’s a cinnamon whatever. It’s more of an appreciation for a nice bottle of wine as opposed to just grabbing whatever at the store. Sebastian, Do you remember your first drink?
He said, Amaretto stone sour. This was back in the early nineties. Growing up in Chicago. The Amearetto stone sour was the drink along with doers. My father used to drink Doers on the rocks.
I was a Scotts drinker for a little bit, all right, Sebastian, what’s your favorite cocktail now? He says, I’m recently falling in love with the Manhattan. I dabbled with the Manhattan about twenty years ago and then kind of forgot about it. I became strictly tequila. I I was gonna do cocktail, but the Manhattan now seems to be the one.
If I’m out at a bar, I’ll just get a Maker’s Mark Manhattan. They talked to me about comedy, and theysked Sebastian, Hey, when you were performing at the Saudi Comedy festal did you? Oh? No. They didn’t ask him that at all.
They asked him if he bases his comedy in real life, and Sebastian said, a lot of my comedy is based in nostalgia. That’s how it used to be, this is how it is now. I often look back at how I grew up Now, being a father, I want to take those kind of core values and traditions and implement them into my kids. I’m not saying I had the perfect parents, but I like the way they taught me manners, they taught me respect, and you know, I see the parents of today not parenting their kids. It’s a little disheartening to see how things have changed over the years.
Well, Sebastian do you like to cook? Do you like movies about gladi eaters? Sebastian said, first and foremost, I love meat. I love steak. I’m not a astronomist by any means.
No one’s saying, oh my god, he came up with this beautiful, puret. Mainly I cook for my kids and try to introduce them to food I was introduced to. I mean, I was eating fish at nine and my grandfather was sucking the eyeballs out of its head. So I’m not doing that. But if somebody eats something that I cook and they enjoyed, it’s almost like telling a joke.
You get enjoyment from other people’s enjoyment. Sebastian, do you enjoy travel? Do you ever go to warm blazes in the middle of the desert or anything like that? He said. We went to Italy this summer, took the kids.
I have an eight year old and a six year old. We went to France first. Then we met mother and took her to the Amalfi Coast for her eightieth birthday, where she’s always wanted to go. I took my dad to Sicily, where he was born and raised about twelve years ago. He hadn’t been back since he had left for fifty years, so we made the pilgrimage and now he’s been back every year since.
Then. Of course, Sebastian played THERIODD Comedy Festival. Now I’ve been quoting George Carlin a lot that there’s a big club and you ain’t in it. Sebastian said, I went out to dinner with Jerry Seinfel. That was a moment for me.
Had seen me do comedy at the Gotham Comedy Club in New York City. Then the next night his wife came to see me and then subsequently invited me on comedians and cars getting coffee, Then we went out to dinner. I followed his career since I was a young kid, and then breaking bread with him at dinner. You just don’t think any of those things are going to happen. Well, do you talk to Jerry about comedy or what else?
When we get together, it’s normally about comedy. There was one thing he did at the restaurant I found fascinating. I’ve never seen it before prior to going out with him. At the end of the meal, there was no bill, there’s nothing. As we got up, I go where’s the bill?
He goes, huh, just take care of later. I asked him, Jerry, what’s your method of taking care of a bill? He says, well, I make a reservation. I just give the credit card events down to put a thirty percent tip on it. I don’t want to see the bill.
It eliminates the no, I’m gonna get it. It’s just all done. I just love getting up. Nothing’s on the table and we’re done. It’s a good pro tip from Jerry Seinfeld.
Keenan Thompson spoke to Thrillist about travel. Keenan said, we do a lot of flying, especially coming from Atlanta, Big Delta kids, so I’ve traveled a lot. My favorite memories are usually with my family. I think any time we take our kids to Europe is a good journey. We’re exposing our kids to so much history, so many scenes, eateies, all that kind of stuff.
Those are really really fun memories. For sure. He’s so positive. You gotta like Keenan Thompson right. One thing I always do when every place is eat for sure, I try to get his free and open to trying whatever kinds of things are possible.
I’ve been pretty adventurous yeah. Boy. My kids they would get so mad at dad growing up because I remember we were in Australia and they wanted to go to McDonald’s and I was like, please, can you not go to McDonald’s. Can you just eat something else? And one of my favorite food travel stories, I remember where we were in Iceland and food in Iceland is expensive.
So we found like a pub, you know. I had a beverage and a cheeseburger and my son was kind of full and he looks at me and he goes, do I have to finish the cheeseburger? And I looked him in the eye and I said, do you have to finish the thirty dollars cheeseburger? He finished it. I digress.
Keenan says, one thing I try to do every place is eat For sure. I can try to be free and open to trying whatever kind of things is possible. Have been pretty venturous, but there’s certain places that I won’t necessarily do that insects and stuff like that. That one’s tougher for me. See, I want to go on amazing race with probably either my son or my daughter.
Now I am afraid of heights, bungee jumps, all that I’m not doing any of that. They can do that. But when they show up with a plate of grasshoppers and they want me to eat them, no problem, I’ll eat it. Keenan, do you pack light or overpack now? Johnny Max Pro tip, pack light unless you’re like on a business trip or something.
Pack light. You can rerun a pair of socks, dude, you’re fine and stuff them in your shoes and stuff you’re underwear in your other It saves a lot of room, and if you get cold, you buy a soup in your sweatshirt. Keene says, I overpack every time I come back. I’m like, why I wore the same shoes the whole time? Yep.
I used to have this fear that my shoes are gonna get wet. What am I gonna do if that happens? You buy a pair of sneakers. Keenan says, I always leave something behind that I need, even if I prep the night before. It’s always one little thing and it irks me so much when I forget something.
So yeah, I tend to overpack. They have stores unless you go to Antarctica. I went to Antarctica for Antarctica three suitcases I did overpack for Antardica, because you know, it’s not like Kean run out to the wah wah. Keenan, what are your must haves? He said, I need my clippers, I got a shave, I need fresh undies.
Then my toiletry is Bond number Nine’s my favorite Colonne old Spice hair brush, curl jail. How does he pass time on a plane sleeping? I sleep well. I watch a lot of TV when I’m at home anyway, so on plane rides, I sleep window or aisle. Keenan said, I like window seats.
I like being able to control the window number one. Yeah, oh boy, These you people that close the shades. Do you not understand the views you’re having? All the billions of people who lived on Earth, and here you are flying over the United States, all these gorgeous views, especially when you get out west, you’re thirty thousand feet you can look at all the stuff, and you guys have the shades down. What are you doing?
Keenan says he’s considered it, and I grew with this. He says, there are some inconsiderate window people that will ignore the fact that everybody’s got their windows closed. You know, night flight or early morning something, and I’ll open theirs for the whole flight and it keeps everybody wake. So I’m not that person. You want me on the window, you do.
Kathy Griffin kicks off her tour today. It’s called New Face. She’s in Las Vegas. Her tour starts today runs through May twenty twenty six. She tells People magazine the gloves are off.
It’s an evening with Kathy Griffin. I’ve been touring so long, I think if you buy a ticket on my show, you can’t. Actually, you don’t know that. I’m going to curse like crazy. I’m going to say inappropriate things.
I’m gonna go off on celebrities and talk about whatever’s on the pop culture zeitgeist. I would say that folks coming in my show they know what they’re in for. I could tell my audience they’re very unshockable because they’ve heard me say it all. I’ll be saying even worse things this time. She promises it’ll be a different act every night of the tour.
I start with local material. If I’m in Tampa, talk about what celebrities are from Tampa. One time I had a run out of theater after my show because I thought it’d be funny to read aloud the names and addresses of the sex offender list in that town. Wow. She said, I got a facelift, which people seem to be fascinating to buy.
And I just want to say, I don’t know why, but it cracks me up. I’m laughing because I’ve done some political interviews that I did all this research for and then they’re like, Kathy Griffin gets a facelift. So I know it’s part of the story, and I’m fine with it. I thought naming it New Face New Tour was funny enough. I got to tell you, I’m still in shock that was able to do my last tour and do seventy five cities, including Carnegie Hall in Boston, Symphony Hall.
And look, I’m not going to sell it every show. I wish I were Dave Chappelle or Chris Rock, and I wish I could say I’m going to sell it every show, but I’m kind of flabbergasted that these offers are coming in. My answer was, are you sure it means so much to me? Because prior to the Trump Halloween mask with ketchup on it photo, you know that one? Yeah, I played the Deep South all the time.
To be welcome back to these markets is a pleasant surprise. I feel a real responsibility to just give one hundred ten percent every time. It is Saturday night in the Big Apple and the New York Comedy Festival is underway. Won’t read every show, but let me scroll down here see what catches my eye. Four o’clock Facebook Marketplace Live, the game show New York City’s Funniest improvisers battle each other for the title of King of Stuff.
Think Who’s line is it? Anyway? Meets Stooping NYC. Audience members play to win free prizes, like really good prizes. Pass prizes include a mannequin head, a VHS of FANTATIONA two thousand, and a rice cooker.
Good to see they’re mixing in some different names. Near Comedy Club at five as Richard Villa. Five o’clock Vittorio Angeloni. He’s the Irish Italian guy. I saw him up in Montreal.
He’s really good. You could do a lot worse than going to Union Hall today at five o’clock, five thirty Bragging Rights with Joey Bragg, six o’clock at the Stand West and evening with Bassam Shawl high Line Comedy Club eight o’clock, Eric Walshin, Max fine Co Headline getting a little more famous here six thirty Todd Glass is its second city, the one in New York Brooklyn. The Big Shiny Show at seven o’clock, a celebration of the twenty fifth anniversary of the cancelation of Strangers with Candy with Stephen Colbert, Paul Denillo, and Amy Sedaris. Trevor Wallace is at the Beacon at seven, ascat New York, at the UCB at seven, Richard Kind plays Circo at seven, Hannah Berner Carnegie Hall, Fancy at eight o’clock, Wow, and a bunch of other smaller names. Now the festival goes for another week.
But this, to me does not have the star power that it’s had in the past. And I don’t know why. It could be just everybody’s content to just play Netflix, because, as John Mulaney says, everybody’s in La Well, let’s pick away at varieties and comics. You should and will nail list Joe Sunday, they say, is like a forest nymph plucked out of an idyllic wood and thrown onto iguana stage. Joe says, I come out as this feminine, adorable character to disarm the audience with my charm and my wit, and then I’ll surprise them with the darkness that lies within.
In one bit, Joe says, I like to walk home alone because I like to cause drum and strife to my friend group. People hear that they see how I dress, They tell me get home safe. Well, it’s not up to me necessarily. When someone says get home safe, what I hear is tonight might be your last. A good luck out there, slut.
They asked Joe, what’s your worst show ever? They said, I bombed at an open mic and Hannibal Burs’s new comedy club. I wonder if hannibals using the money he got paid by the Saldi’s at the Riadd Comedy Festival to fund that new comedy club. I digress, Joe said, I wasn’t planning Lieutenant night. I passed by on the street and thought, let me show these people a thing or two.
I just opened for Hannibal and Boston, so I felt some swagger. During the bombing, I said, I’m not too worried about this because I have other stuff. Afterwards, someone asked me what other stuff and I had to leave. That’s all funny and let’s get out there. That is your comedy news for today on a Saturday.
You have an awesome day.